By The Numbers: Risto Kalmre

March, 25 2015by Nuno Oliveira

We’ve written down 100 random questions and assorted topics, all of which are unbeknownst to our victims. We will be asking people to pick 20 random numbers from 1-100 and then supplying them with those questions/topics to answer. Who knows what might come up!?!?!

Up next, is one of the unsung heros of our scene. Simple Session organizer Risto Kalmre. If you’ve ever attended or enjoyed the live stream of a Simple Session, you can thank Risto in large part.

Click below to check out Risto’s By The Numbers Q&A, and stay tuned to Simple Session as the event gets closer. Photo courtesy of Vince Perraud.

Yesterday – breakfast lunch and dinner?

Got a huge smoothie for breakfast. For lunch got something from a food truck that stands just next to our studio. A champ from Argentina sells street food there, it’s great! Cannot remember if there was much of anything else. I might have gotten that same thing twice for a dinner as well, haha.

Any hidden talents? What are they?

Not sure how hidden it is, but the BMX world out there might not be too aware that by profession I’m actually an art director / graphic designer and among other things I make most of the Simple Session artwork and materials myself. It’s a proper DIY festival in that sense.

If you were in an elevator and Michael Jordan walked in, what would you do?

I just read somewhere the other day that he is the highest paid retired athlete, so maybe I’d try to pitch him some idea for some project. Make a proper elevator pitch in literal meaning.

What would the title be of your autobiography?

I hope it’s too early to decide that yet.

Maybe try to incorporate a quote from an article I read online the other day and that spoke to me..
“You only get a limited number of fucks to give over your lifetime, so you must spend them with care. As my father used to say, “Fucks don’t grow on trees….”

or another quote from magazine I edited/designed back in the day
“You only get one life, you might as well spend it on something great”

or “I use to be a conceptual artist. I’m OK now”

All ridiculously long or stupid for titles.

How many unread emails do you have right now?

Only 26, not bad.

Would you pose nude for an art class?

Why not. Gives you a penny and could meet some new nice artistic people.

What would you do today if it was your last day?

Hard to decide whether to go total haywire and try to do all the shit yet undone or just let all the shit go and chill the fuck out. Get up from my freaking desk at least and go to a party next door. After that maybe go up to the hill at old down, sit down, smoke a good spliff and reflect. It’s a nice clear weather today. Or maybe punch a few people in the face along the way as I would know that’s the last chance I have to do that, hah.

Top 5 all time favorite movies in order

Not easy to point these out as there are too many but these popped to mind in some reason. Some pretty light stuff, some not but still have made an impact on certain periods of my life.

Space Odyssey
Dazed and Confused
Enter the Void
Ghost in the Shell
Rushmore

I like asian cinema a lot too but there are too many titles, haha.

Tell us something people don’t really know about you…

I’ve been in jail for trying to break into a NATO base in Belgium to inspect them for nuclear weapons. It was some activist thing back in the day.

What was the last thing you built?

Built a sketchy construction together with my brother where to make the photo from above for our last Simple Session ad shoot.

What word do you overuse the most?

“Lihtsalt”, not sure how to translate that, could be “just”.

What was the last time you were star struck?

I don’t think I really trip out too easily if I meet anyone but I was certainly stoked when I met Karin Dreijer Andersson from the Knife / Fever Ray. Or when I saw Takeshi Kitano at a film festival.

When was the last time you stepped in dog shit?

That’s probably gonna happen now when I walk out the door.

How many hats do you own?

Too many to count. I dig hats.

Best Halloween costume you have worn?

Never really celebrated Halloween too much as it’s not a norm around here. But this year was the first time when we threw a Halloween night bike ride and a block party in front of our store.

I was just in all back with leather jacket and my friend painted a skull face make-up on me.

What would be your ideal weekend?

Kick it with the homies during the days and chill with the ladies in the nights.
A small-scale summer-time music festival somewhere in the forest or near the lake is always a great fun.

How many songs do you have in your iTunes library?

I’ve been lazy and seem to have switched over to streaming services lately for everyday listening habits but I still have thousands of tracks at Itunes. Just they often sit on my external drives, so it’s sometimes not possible to listen to all of them when I’m on the go and they’re there just as song names.

Would be cool to get back into vinyl and more tangible feeling music.

Give us 2 truths and a lie

I’ve thrown 18 bigger Simple Session editions during these 15 years.

By first BMX was Trek 1.0

Raising enough money for a huge BMX/Skate event in Estonia is a piece of cake.

Have you ever been frustrated by assembling IKEA furniture? If so, what was it?

I sure have. I think it was some chairs and a shelf. I usually need to put everything together twice, haha.

Toilet paper. When the roll is getting low, are you guilty of using just enough not to replace it, or do you do the right thing?